Summary Cargojet Airways Flight 620, a Boeing727-225 freighter (registration C-GCJB, serial number21855) was a night cargo flight from Hamilton, Ontario, to Moncton, New Brunswick. The first officer was performing the pilot flying (PF)duties, and the captain was conducting a line check on the first officer. The en route portion of the flight to Moncton was uneventful. On arrival at Moncton, the flight crew conducted two unsuccessful approaches in darkness and poor weather conditions before landing on the third approach. A post-flight inspection of the aircraft in Moncton found visible damage on the left wing. The tip of the left outboard leading edge flap and the outboard trailing edge flap canoe were abraded. The damage was consistent with a slight contact with the runway. Available information indicates that the wing scrape occurred at 0241 Atlantic daylight time during the rejected landing after the second approach. The aircraft was at a pitch angle of five degrees nose up, 14degrees of left bank, and a derived aircraft height above ground of approximately 26feet. There were no injuries. Ce rapport est galement disponible en franais. Other Factual Information Weather Observation Procedures at Moncton Weather observations at Moncton are made by a private company, ADGA Group Consultants Incorporated, under contract with NAV CANADA. ADGA personnel, in accordance with the Manual of Surface Weather Observations (MANOBS), conduct hourly weather observations and, in the case of deteriorating weather, release special weather observations. The observations are used to provide hourly reports, special observation reports, and ATIS (automated terminal information service) broadcast information. MANOBS amendment No.9, dated September1987, pagexiv, paragraph entitled Duties, states that while on duty, weather observers are required to keep a close and continuous watch on the weather. Check observations are to be taken between regular hourly observations to ensure that significant changes in weather do not remain unreported. A check observation is also required when a pilot report (PIREP) is received from an aircraft within 1statute miles (sm) of the airfield and the PIREP indicates that weather conditions, as observed by the pilot, differ significantly from those reported from the current observations. The weather observer was not advised that the weather was significantly lower than what was being reported, and broadcast on the ATIS until after Flight620 had missed landing on two approaches. When air traffic control (ATC) advised the observer of this, the observer immediately carried out an observation that was released at 0249. By this time, however, the flight was under vectors for the third approach, and the crew did not receive the 0249report. The weather observers do not have access to area forecasts, satellite information, radar data, or observations from other airports. To determine the height of the ceiling at night, the observers have a ceiling projector and alidade (a sighting device for measuring angles). Using this equipment is time consuming and, because it is a manual task, there is no continuous readout available for the observer. This alidade at Moncton is not ideally located. High intensity ramp lighting mounted on the building interfered with its use, and buildings immediately adjacent give the observer only 20of arc (outof180) for estimating the amount of cloud cover. Weather Forecast and Actual Conditions The Moncton aerodrome forecast for the period covering the incident was as follows: visibility 6sm in mist; overcast ceiling 800feet; temporarily 3sm in mist. Between 0300 and 0600Atlantic daylight time,1 the forecast was as follows: sm in mist; overcast ceiling 300feet. The Moncton ATIS provided the following broadcast information: ATIS Alpha for 0100 (received by the flight crew prior to descent) was as follows: ceiling (measured) 1100 feet overcast; visibility 15sm; wind 100Magnetic(M) at 3knots; temperature 9C; dew point 8C. ATIS Bravo for 0200 (received by the flight crew during descent) was as follows: ceiling (estimated) 1100 feet overcast; visibility 10sm; wind 080M at 3knots; temperature 9C; dew point 8C. ATIS Charlie, a 0246 weather special issued at 0249 (not received by the flight crew) was as follows: ceiling (estimated) 1100feet overcast; visibility 1sm; wind 090M at 3knots; temperature 9C; dew point 8C. The 0300 METAR2 reported a ceiling (estimated) at 1100 feet and visibility 1sm in fog. The hourly weather reports for 0100 to 0300 for Greenwood, the filed alternate, indicated the lowest ceiling and visibility to be 1400feet overcast and 3sm. Because the crew expected the weather at Moncton to be well above minimums for landing, they did not update the weather for Greenwood. Approaches The flight data recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR) were removed from the aircraft and sent to the TSB Engineering Branch for analysis. The CVR had recorded 30minutes of good quality audio; however, all in-flight information was overwritten when the CVR continued to operate after the final landing. The CVR did record crew comments after this landing. The FDR recorded good data on all channels. The FDR data was used to create an animation, which was used to analyse the second approach. The first approach flown by Flight620 was a straight-in, localizer back-course approach to Runway11. The aircraft was still in cloud when it descended below the reported ceiling of 1100feet above ground level (agl) and remained in cloud at the minimum descent altitude (MDA), 270feet agl. Without adequate visual reference to land, the crew carried out a missed approach at 0231. It was calculated that the fuel remaining after this approach was about 10100pounds. Flight 620 was then radar vectored for an instrument landing system approach (ILS) to Runway29. While the aircraft was being vectored to the final approach course, the altitude hold function of the autopilot was malfunctioning, causing the aircraft to deviate from the selected altitude, and the first officer disconnected the autopilot to manually fly the approach. The aircraft was configured for a flap-30 landing. On reaching decision height at 200feet agl, the flight crew saw the approach lights. The aircraft was slightly right of the extended centerline and on a corrective heading for the on-course. At about 150feet agl, the first officer banked the aircraft to the right to acquire the runway centerline. He continued the correction until the aircraft was positioned near the right edge of the runway at about 40feet agl. The first officer corrected once again toward the centerline and, at about 20feet above the runway, with 14degrees left bank, reduced the power to land. (It is estimated that the aircraft reached minimum diversion fuel upon completion of this approach.) At this point, the captain took control, applied power, and increased pitch to five degrees nose up to reject the landing. Before the wings were leveled, the left-wing leading-edge slat and trailing-edge flap scraped the runway. At the time, the flight crew were unaware that the aircraft had contacted the runway. Flight620 was vectored for another Runway29 ILS approach. The captain flew the approach and landed on Runway29 at 0253. The approaches were flown in accordance with the company's Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). According to the SOPs, the PF conducts the instrument approach and the pilot not flying (PNF) monitors the approach, communicates with ATC, and makes the standard crew calls. Once minimums are reached, a decision is made as to whether there are sufficient visual references to allow transition from flight instrument references to external visual references for the landing. The SOPs call for a missed approach to be initiated if the aircraft is not on profile laterally and vertically when below 1000feet agl. Flight Crew The captain had acquired a total flight time of 40000hours, including 9000hours on this type of aircraft. The first officer had 5000hours total flight time, with 600hours on type. The flight crew were reported to have been well-rested prior to the flight. Fatigue was not considered a factor in the occurrence. Fuel The fuel remaining on board the aircraft during the third approach was below the minimum required diversion fuel (min div fuel) of 8680 pounds. At shut down in Moncton, the fuel remaining on board the aircraft was 6400pounds. The company Flight Operations Manual (FOM) states that Upon reaching MIN DIV fuel, the flight MUST proceed immediately to the alternate airport, unless an imminent landing at destination is reasonably assured.